In a Better World
by SpitfireUSN
Summary: Okay, this is my first attempt at a crossover, I have no idea where this came from but so far, I'm loving how it's turning out. The soldiers of the 141 have seen strange things, but none stranger than talking pastel ponies with wings and/or horns, or neither. Full synopsis inside, will involve Archer/Toad, Rainbow Dash/Twilight, Jayhawk/Fluttershy, and Roach/OC.
1. Prologue

**_The soldiers of the 141 have seen strange things, but none stranger than talking pastel ponies with wings and/or horns, or neither. To make a strange matter stranger more, they found themselves taking form of these 'ponies' as well, and usually having to rely on their call signs to fit in with the 'local population', or having to come up with a new name when theirs didn't exactly 'fit'. Only one among the few knows where they are and understands what everything is, but isn't too ecstatic about admitting it, reluctantly, he acts as the 141's guide through the land of Equestria anyway. _**

**_Prologue: Flashed_**

**_Hey everyone! This is my first attempt at a crossover fiction and I guess it counts as taking three birds with one stone for the Acceptance fics and you'll see why later on. So here we are with the insanely short prologue. I'll have the real first chapter up shortly, promise. _**

**_Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher_**

**_~Spitfire out_**

"Archer! Get back!" Toad yelled, but it was too late, a flash bang rolled to a stop right under him and exploded.

Archer yelled as his ears rang and he was blinded by the flash. Flash bangs, the number one way to take Archer out of the fight, his one and only phobia and overly sensitive ears both playing a part in that. The phobia was scotomaphobia: the fear of being blind or having hindered or impaired sight. He might have been monochromatic as far as color blindness went but it didn't serve to make the situation any better, if anything it was worse. The sensitivity of his ears meant that he'd be deafened longer and the fact that he was standing right on top of the flash bang when it exploded meant that it was as bright as it was going to get. If Archer opened his eyes, any light would be too bright for him at this point and his eyes would be damaged, if he kept them closed he'd be fine but there was no telling how long it would take.

Toad grabbed Archer by the collar and pulled him back into an alcove as enemy fire ripped through the room. The fire stopped and the Russians were coming in to search the room. Toad had to keep Archer quiet and still if they were going to get by unnoticed. Toad pulled Archer back where their teammates couldn't see them and pressed his lips to Archer's, the contact having a calming effect over the elder sniper as he stilled and quieted.

There was yelling in Russian, the sound of rushed footsteps and panic, then silence. A blinding flash tore through the dark room, swallowing the members of the 141. It was gone as soon as it had appeared, along with the soldiers that had been hiding throughout the room.

When they woke up, they were expecting anything but what they saw.


	2. Chapter 1 - Equestria

**_Chapter One: Equestria_**

Roach opened his eyes, at first shocked and scared by the scene before him. He knew the town he was looking at. He smiled widely, wondering if he was dreaming. The large crystalline tree like palace being the center of the town, he spotted a rainbow mane pegasus speaking with a lavender coated alicorn, oh yes; Roach definitely knew where he was now.

Roach heard his companions waking up beside him and looked over to see two pegasi lying beside each other, one with a brown, spiky mane and tail, with skin colored fur, a red shield with a white star for a cutie-mark. The other had a curly reddish brown mane and matching tail and paler fur than the other, and instead of red, he had a blue shield and white star for his cutie-mark. Realizing that it was Archer and Toad, he figured he'd been turned into a pony too and got to his hooves, looking himself over; he was an earth-pony with a dirty blonde, sort mane that lay flat against his head and a spiked tail, his coat was a dusty brown color. His cutie mark was the zodiac symbol of Aries. Roach figured his call sign wouldn't work as a name here and decided that, because of his cutie mark, he'd be called 'Aries'.

He looked around him and saw Jayhawk starting to get up, he was a pegasus as well, fitting, considering the name. His coat was a light grey and his mane was a dusty colored light blue with streaks of light grey and black, his wings fading to white at the tips with the feathers dappled with spots of black. His cutie mark was a blue jay with rust colored stripes on its wings. His call-sign would definitely work here. Jay woke up, opening his eyes, revealing them to be a dark forest green.

Jayhawk's eyes went wide as he saw Roach, who instantly pretended not to know what was going on as he looked around with faked confusion in his features. He saw Toad and Archer waking up. Archer's eyes were a light, pale blue, suggesting the sniper was still color blind despite the complete change in species and universe for that matter. Toad's eyes were an emerald green. The three pegasi stood up and looked around in panic.

"What the hell!?" Toad questioned, spotting his and Archer's wings, and then looking at Jayhawk, his jaw dropping at the colors that adorned Jay's mane, tail, and wings.

Roach took a breath, they needed some form of solid ground work here, these three knew nothing about this, possibly didn't even know the show still existed. He'd have to step up and help them as much as he could.

"Um… I think I might know what's going on here…" Roach said sheepishly, spotting the rainbow mane mare flying towards them he gasped in surprise, making the others look up at the cyan pegasus that circled them.

They all looked scared as Rainbow Dash landed in front of them, "Who are you four?" she asked suspiciously.

Roach looked at his companions as the coward and faced Rainbow, he sighed; he knew someone would find out eventually, but he certainly didn't expect it to happen this way, "Um… I'm… uh… Aries…" he answered slowly.

The others looked at him curiously, not familiar with the name, "And… these are my friends," Roach continued, gesturing to the other three ponies, "Jay Hawk, Archer, and…" he paused, realizing that the name Toad didn't fit here, he'd have to come up with a new one, "um… Copper," he said randomly, motioning to each as he said their names.

Toad raised an eye brow at the new 'name' and how easily Roach was talking to this creature.

"Uh huh…" Rainbow responded suspiciously and motioned for the small band of ponies to follow her, "Come on, Twilight wanted to see what I found up here."

"Huh?" Jay asked suddenly, "What do you mean, 'wanted to see what you found'? Did she send you?" he questioned.

"Yeah, I'm the fastest flyer around, she sent me to check out that flash that happened not too long ago," the mare answered, "The name's Rainbow Dash by the way."

They followed Rainbow to the crystalline tree palace, meeting a lavender pony with a horn and wings out front.

"Hey Twilight!" Rainbow Dash greeted, trotting up to the alicorn.

"Rainbow," Twilight responded simply, "And who are these ponies?" she asked, spotting the four ponies behind Rainbow, one earth pony and three pegasi.

"I found them on the edge of the Everfree Forest, where we saw that flash," she explained, "this is Aries, Archer, Jay Hawk, and Copper," she introduced them.

"Hello," Twilight greeted them, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and where are the four of you from?"

They all looked between each other curiously, "Um… I-uh…" Roach stammered, trying to come up with something but he failed to, "I… don't know…" he admitted.

"Huh? You don't know where you're from?" Twilight questioned curiously.

That gave Roach an idea; he shook his head, "That's not exactly what I meant. We travel, we're not really _from_ anywhere," he answered.

"Oh!" Twilight seemed to accept the answer and Roach breathed a silent sigh of relief, "Well, you're certainly welcome to stay in Ponyville for as long as you like!" she offered kindly.

"Thank you," Roach replied, being polite, as a few of Twilight's friends came out of the castle.

He spotted Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike. Pinkie gasped like she did when she first met Twilight and ran back inside, leaving everyone else to stare after her in wonder and confusion.

"What…" Archer started but didn't finish.

He squinted, grimacing as he rubbed his eyes.

"Archer?" Toad asked, looking at his friend, "What's wrong?"

Archer shook his head, looking at his friend, grimacing as he squeezed his eyes shut again, looking away. He fell on his haunches, rubbing his eyes and looking around him. He shook his head roughly as if trying to clear it.

The other ponies stared in worry at the new pegasus that was now currently in a panic, rubbing at his eyes constantly. He was about to bolt in a terror when 'Copper' tackled him.

"Archer, pull yourself together!" he said sharply, pressing his muzzle against the other stallion's, staring into the closed eyes.

Suddenly Archer's eyes snapped open and he sucked in an audible breath at the eyes staring into his. He recognized them as his American's eyes but he'd never seen them like… like _this_. Emerald green, he thought, not that he'd know, being stuck with monochromatic sight for most of his life. Now though, he could actually see the color, it made his head hurt and pound against his skull. Archer moaned at the headache and put his hooves to his ears in a feeble attempt to make it stop.

Toad got off of him and helped his friend up, who, with the severity of the migraine he was getting from suddenly being able to see in color, nearly doubled over again.

"What just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked randomly.

The band of ponies, save Archer who'd rather keep his eyes closed than look at a rainbow at this point, looked at her, "I have no idea," they said in sync.

"I take back every time I said I hated colorblindness… this sucks…" Archer said randomly, daring to open his eyes.

They weren't quite as pale now; they had more of an icy gleam to them.

The others just looked at him in surprise, "Wait? What? What are you talking about?" Toad asked in shock.

Archer groaned, "I'll explain later…" he muttered ill-temperedly.

They just looked between each other and shrugged. Toad covered Archer's back with a wing, helping to guide his friend. Archer was keeping his eyes closed, the sudden vibrant colors made his head hurt. The ponies that they had met, each of them introducing themselves, gave them a tour around Ponyville, Archer would rely on the unique sounds and tones of conversation from each place to tell where he was rather than what the places looked like, considering he felt like he'd pass out every time he opened his eyes to try to see the place.

Eventually they were brought to an empty house and told that they could stay there during their stay in Ponyville.

"But, I have to warn you, there are only three bedrooms…" Twilight said slightly, as if she knew it didn't really matter for them.

"That's fine, thank you," Roach replied quickly, again being polite.

The purple alicorn nodded, "Right, well, if you four need anything, you can always find me or one of my friends at the castle," she said, turning to leave.

Toad and Roach both saw the pink mane pegasus stare at Jay Hawk a little longer before leaving, both chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Archer questioned as Jay just looked between the two then towards the shy pony.

"Oh, it's nothing," Toad assured, "I don't know 'bout you guys but I'm bushed, let's go get some sleep, he said; gesturing to the house in front of them.

The others nodded in agreement and Roach opened the door, stepping in first. Archer opened his eyes experimentally after hearing the door close behind him and, after finding that the colors weren't too bright and were rather simple, opted to try to keep them open, at least get used to how his friends looked now.

"We need to get back home," Jay Hawk pointed out as they all settled down.

The others gave their own form of agreement before looking about the house to get their bearings. They each found a saddle bag, two in one room and one in each of the other two. Each bag was either a simple black satchel with a cutie mark that matched one of theirs, or it was a dun color and had two pouches, the cutie mark on it matching Roach's. They looked between each other and opened the bags.

Inside the three black bags were several lengths of rope, a knife, and a few other basic survival materials. In the two dun bags were other materials that they would find useful if they were living in the woods. None of them questioned how the movements of their pony forms came so naturally, although it irked them, they made no mention of it.

Roach pulled out a large piece of parchment he had found in his bag and laid it out on the floor. It was a map. They felt drawn to the cities of 'Canterlot' and 'Cloudsdale'.

"Okay, if we're going to get home, we've got a lot to figure out," Roach pointed out.

Archer nodded, staring at the vividly colored map, his eyes finally starting to adjust to this change, "I think we should start here," he said, jabbing a hoof at Canterlot, "Something tells me we'll have to split up if we go to Cloudsdale…"

Roach and Jay Hawk both agreed, Toad smiled smugly, "I've learned the hard way _not _to question his intuition," he said cheerfully.

Archer chuckled and flicked Toad with a wing, "Damn right," he said with a laugh as Toad mock glared at him.

Roach and Jay rolled their eyes at them. It didn't matter how much they tried to hide it, everyone knew about how Archer and Toad were so much more than just 'close friends'.

"Anyway…" Jay Hawk cut into the awkward silence, "Maybe we'll find someone who can help us figure these out," he suggested, flapping his wings experimentally.

Archer and Toad nodded in agreement, looking back at their own wings.

"Hey, what about that Rainbow one? She said she was the fastest flyer around right? Must mean she's good at it," Toad suggested.

Roach shook his head vigorously, "Bad idea, I'm not sure we want them to know who or what we actually are… Especially if you see a mint colored one…" Roach said, his eyes going wide, "avoid her… Rainbow might teach you but… I don't know, she's pretty brash and cocky, and we wouldn't get by without raising suspicions."

"Like we haven't already?" Archer questioned, "I mean, seriously, look at Jay Hawk. Have _you _seen anyone like that? And the fact that we were where they saw a flash when they came to investigate it, it probably doesn't look too good for our story."

"Good point…" Roach said, tapping a hoof to his chin, thinking, "We need to come up with an alibi and teach you three how to fly," his face lit up with excitement, "I know just the pony we need to talk to!" he exclaimed, "But for now, we should get some sleep… In the morning, we go to Sugar Cube Corner."

The others nodded in agreement, keeping their questions about who they'd be meeting to themselves, knowing that Roach would wait till the last second to tell them, and headed off to their rooms.

**_Okay, so I gave up on finishing first… Yeah, I'm still working on Chapter Two but it shouldn't be too terribly long, I've hit writer's block with all of my other stories unfortunately… So, enjoy, there will be reviewer shout-outs, and let me know what you guys think! _**

**_Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher_**

**_~Spitfire out_**


	3. Chapter 2 - Pinkie is Pinkie

**Chapter Two: Pinkie is… Pinkie…**

_**Hey! I'm finally updating this! Yep. So... Here you go I guess... Thanks to Prettyprincess45, GhostColts141, and TheShadeOps, for your reviews!**_

_**Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher**_

_**~Spitfire out**_

When they woke, Archer looked out of the window to see the sun rise and simply stared, he'd never seen it in color, even though this was different than it was back home, it was still amazing to him. He looked at the other colors around the town below him, being on the second floor of the building, it seemed his eyes, and head, had adjusted to the vibrancy by now and he grinned. He rested his chin on the window sill, sighing happily.

Toad trotted up beside Archer and sat beside him, wrapping a wing around his Brit.

In the next room Jay Hawk was waking up and stretching out, he certainly wasn't used to the wings yet and he hadn't slept well at all. It made him wonder if the others had fared any better than he had.

He heard the soft clopping of hooves in the hall way and stood from the bed on stiff legs as there were three soft knocks on the door.

"Come in," Jay Hawk allowed, picking his saddle bag up with his nose and shifting to get it over his back and secured there, "So, where are we going exactly?"

"To talk to Pinkie Pie, if anyone will even guess what's going on, she will," Roach said, poking his head in the room, "Get Archer and Toad up, I'll be downstairs getting a plan together for afterwards."

Jay Hawk nodded in response and left his room, knocking on the door of Archer and Toad's room.

There were a few seconds of silence before Toad called for Jay to come in. Toad was on the opposite side of the room from Archer, who was sitting in front of the window, staring outside while Toad slid his saddle bag on.

"Roach is downstairs getting the game plan together," he said quietly, Archer looked like he was in his 'zone', bad idea to startle him like this, it never ended well, "Get ready," he added, leaving to meet Roach downstairs

Toad walked over to Archer and lightly touched the elder's shoulder, breaking his focus on whatever it was he was looking at and making him look over.

Archer looked back and squinted, grunting he stood, "Thought I saw something…" he said simply, finding his saddle bag and putting it on.

Toad glanced out of the window nervously, "Uh… Arch… Nothing good has ever come of ignoring _your _eyes and intuition…" he pointed out, stepping away from the glass pane.

Archer shrugged, "Considering 'recent events'," he said, gesturing to his eyes, "not sure I trust 'em much… Let's go."

They met the others downstairs and found Roach looking over the map, tapping a hoof against his chin as he thought.

He looked up at the others as they came in, "If we're going to fit in around here, we'll have to get used to calling each other by the names we used earlier. The names Toad and Roach don't work," he said simply, "Toad, get used to the name Copper and you guys gotta get used to calling me Aries. Jay Hawk, its two words here, not one. Only one that doesn't change is Archer," he explained, rolling his map up and putting it in his bag, "Let's go, we've got to get to Sugar Cube Corner before it opens."

"Why?" Archer asked randomly, "And, is there anything _else _we need to know?" he added as a second thought.

Roach looked over at Archer, "We have to meet Pinkie Pie before she gets 'busy'. And yes, there are a few other things… Mannerisms, they don't say 'anybody', 'nobody', or 'everybody', instead it's 'anypony', 'nopony', and so on," Roach explained simply, "Ponies are the majority of the species here but there are a lot of others too. Griffins, cockatrices, hydra, manticores, zebras, sea serpents, and a bunch of others too, but yeah, equines are the most common," he added with a shrug.

The others nodded in response, knowing it would take them some time to get used to saying things like that.

Several minutes later found them outside of Sugar Cube Corner in an alley way, so they wouldn't be seen or heard, talking to Pinkie Pie.

None of them had said a word before Pinkie suddenly smiled and started talking, almost too fast for them to understand, "Lemme guess!" She squealed happily, "You're not really ponies but people from another dimension from some secret task force and you really want to go back home but you three," she said gesturing to the three pegasi, "Don't know how to fly and you need to go to Cloudsdale later?!"

Archer, Jay Hawk, and Copper just stared with their jaws dropped, Roach just laughed, "That's the gist of it, yes," he stated, coming down from his fit of laughter at his friends' expense.

"Okie dokie loki!" the pink pony shouted, "Let's go find Rainbow Dash! She's the super duper bestest flyer in all of Equestria!" she claimed, bouncing away, leaving all but one staring with a mix of shocked and scared expressions.

'Copper' trotted alongside Archer, who was trying to keep his eyes on the ground, "Maybe we should just tell them about everything? Make this a lot easier…"

Archer looked up at his companion and shrugged, "Maybe… If we did, we'd have to be careful about what we tell them…" he said simply.

"DASHIE!" Pinkie Pie suddenly yelled as they came to an open field and saw the rainbow mane pegasus from before flying around some kind of house made of clouds.

Rainbow Dash stopped her tricks and maneuvers and looked down at Pinkie before desending and landing in front of her, "Yeah? You need somethin'?" she asked with a smirk.

"Teach them how to fly, Dashie! It's a long story, but I'll explain later!" she requested excitedly before bouncing away and leaving the four friends and Rainbow Dash staring after her.

"Uh… huh… So… You three don't know how to fly, and you're full grown pegasi?" Rainbow questioned.

Archer averted his eyes from the bright colors of Rainbow's mane before speaking, "Like she said, long story…"

"Okay then… I can get you guys airborne in no time!" she boasted, flying up with a hoof to her chest.

"Okay?" Toad said skeptically.

"It's easy, all you gotta do flap your wings, and lean into the movement," Rainbow explained, "Fly up here."

The three pegasi looked between each other and shrugged, extending their wings. Roach just sat and watched, chuckling as they were unsteady on their wings, though Jay seemed to be doing okay, which was rather appropriate considering he was named after two birds…

He laughed when Toad fell back to the ground and glared at nothing in particular. Archer dropped down beside him, managing to land on his hooves, and helped him up.

"You okay?" He asked with a chuckle, almost getting lost in his partner's eyes.

"I'm fine," Toad said, almost grouchily but it was half-hearted as he grinned slightly at his partner.

"Hey, less talking more flying!" Rainbow called from above.

Archer and Toad looked up to see that Jay was easily hovering next to Rainbow Dash. They looked between each other and shrugged, flapping their wings and eventually making it up.

The rest of the day was spent with the three pegasi learning how to fly and Roach laughing at their failed attempts.

Roach stood from where he was sat watching his three Pegasus friends fly, "Hey! It's getting late!" He called up to them, "We should head back to the house and call it a day," he suggested, as they landed in front of him.

The others nodded their agreement and thanked Rainbow for teaching them how to fly before heading back to the house they were staying in.


End file.
